While the Nazis were plundering Europe, one of the many things the Nazis did while taking over most of Europe, was to steal artwork from the owners and keep it for themselves. Under international law, artwork is supposed to be returned to the original owners or their heirs.

The current holders of many contested works have successfully defended themselves against the heirs for technical reasons, such as the statute of limitations. To address this problem, last year the U.S. Congress passed the HEAR Act.

One of the first cases is over two drawings by Egon Schiele that were once owned by Fritz Grunbaum. The Nazis took Grunbaum's artwork from his home in Vienna in 1938 and sent him to a concentration camp, where he died.

His heirs claim the Nazis stole the artwork.

However, that has been disputed by dealers, current owners and museums, who claim the Nazis only inventoried the works. They also claim that Grunbaum's sister-in-law sold some of the works, including the two drawings in the current dispute, to a dealer in the 1950s.

Grunbaum's heirs have previously lost in court trying to recover this artwork.

They claim they have lost for the very technical reasons that the HEAR Act was designed to prevent.

People frequently find that they have to sell some assets to come up with the cash to pay the federal estate tax. In order to get around this, many wealthy people purchase survivorship or second-to-die insurance policies. These policies pay a death benefit when one spouse passes away. As a result, liquid cash is available to pay the estate tax out of the insurance proceeds.

With Republicans now in control of the government, many people anticipate that it is only a matter of time until the estate tax is repealed. This new political reality has led many to consider dropping their expensive survivorship insurance policies.

After all, there is no guarantee that any repeal of the estate tax will be permanent. Political winds can shift quickly and, if the Democrats retake control of the federal government in a few years, the estate tax could come back.

People who cancel their survivorship policies now, will likely find that premiums have gone up significantly later, if they need the insurance again.

It might be wise to check with an estate planning attorney, before cancelling any survivorship insurance.

The Jackson estate still has not settled its dispute with the IRS over the estate tax. His family also has not come to terms with and completely accepted the decisions he made about his estate.

Jackson chose to cut his siblings and his father completely out of his estate.

Instead, the estate goes to his mother, Katherine Jackson, and to his children. The estate pays Katherine monthly. The remainder will be divided between his children and charity, when she passes away.

The latest battle centers around allegations that Jackson's other relatives are trying to use Katherine to get to Michael's fortune,

Katherine Jackson recently filed a complaint against Trent Jackson, Michael's cousin, accusing him of elder abuse and taking her money. Trent claims that she is being pushed to do so by other relatives, who want him out of the way so they can get to her money.

Trent is proposing that Katherine have a meeting with a nephew, TJ Jackson. He believes that TJ will be able to figure out the truth. Trent promises to get out of the way, if TJ believes there was elder abuse.

If the costs are not brought down dramatically, the future of both programs could be in jeopardy. Why? Americans are living longer and longer, which means that more people are or will be in need of Alzheimer's treatment.

Both programs are already extremely expensive and face financial difficulties in the future. With their present funding, they will not be able to afford a large increase in Alzheimer's diagnoses and treatments.

What does this mean?

Research into preventing and curing the disease is more important than ever. The development of new, less expensive treatment methods would also be helpful.

This is another of the many ways that an aging population could threaten the country's current institutions and practices, unless action is taken. Our programs were not designed with a substantial increase in longevity in mind.

Many recent studies report that the average American has saved far less than experts think they will need.

There are many reasons for this situation, but the reasons for not saving are not as important as what it means for future senior citizens.

The biggest issue is simply that people, on average, are living longer than ever before. That trend is expected to continue as medical science progresses. No one is certain just how long people will live after retirement in the future.

People who have planned to save for 20 years of retirement living might actually need to save for 30, 40 or even more years. This also creates problems for elderly safety nets.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are already under financial stress because of the large number of Baby Boomers entering their retirement years. The longer people live, the more that those programs will need to pay out. Many people believe the programs will have to offer substantially fewer benefits in the future.

This statistic might not seem at first glance as something that is relevant to your retirement. However, a will or trust should be considered essential to your retirement planning.

If you would like to leave an inheritance for your children or grandchildren, then it stands to reason that you need more savings than just what is necessary to live on, when you are no longer working.

Another reason is that if you are saving and investing a lot of money, then you need to confront the possibility that something could happen to you before you can spend all of it. You need to decide what should happen to that money.

Creating an estate plan with an estate planning attorney is unlikely to be difficult and can help you in your retirement plans.

The research has discovered that excess glucose in the blood causes damage to an important enzyme in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. It was already known that people with diabetes had a higher chance than others of getting Alzheimer's, but the exact link was not previously known.

The results of the study suggest another reason why people might want to avoid a diet that is high in sugar.

This study is not a definitive answer to what causes Alzheimer's disease and the results will need to be replicated by other studies. However, this does appear to be an important clue and a step in developing a means to prevent the disease.

Brady, who is now 79, suffers from several severe health problems, including mental health issues that require constant care. He is locked away and receiving treatment in a secure hospital. However, he would like to be transferred to a prison facility in his native Scotland, since Scottish prisons do not force feed inmates. This would allow Brady to refuse food and pass away.

Thus far, Brady has been unsuccessful in court. His latest attempt at earning the right to die was decided on a technicality concerning his legal representation. However, the idea that notorious inmates have a right to die, like everyone else, could eventually present a challenge for advocates of right to die laws, including physician-assisted suicide advocates.

At some point, it seems likely that a terminally ill person who is serving a life sentence will seek to be allowed to die, just as a non-prisoner has the right to do. The question will then need to be answered whether that should be allowed on humanitarian grounds or would allowing it be considered letting a guilty person get out of a just punishment for his crimes?

A total of 29 states have now legalized marijuana for medical purposes. That has led to it increasingly being used by an entirely different demographic group. Elderly people are now using the drug to treat their own ailments, since it helps to relieve minor aches and pains as well as mental conditions such as depression and anxiety that can come with retirement and life in nursing homes.

This presents an interesting question about enforcement of federal prohibitions on marijuana use.

Under the Obama administration, the federal government was mostly hands-off and did not make much of an effort to enforce federal laws in states that had legalized the drug. However, new Attorney General Jeff Sessions has long been opposed to marijuana legalization. He has recently suggested that, under his leadership, the federal government might start enforcing the laws again.